ReplayTV 5040 Review

Now that Digital Video Recorders (DVR) are moving into the mainstream, there are more models to choose from than ever before. From ReplayTV and Tivo to the generic cable company DVR units from Motorola and Scientific Atlanta, the choices can be overwhelming for the first time DVR shopper. With all of these DVR’s to choose from, should the ReplayTV be your first choice? For those who value quality and want the best video and audio available from a DVR, the answer is yes.

Features of the ReplayTV 5040

The ReplayTV 5040 has all of the features that are standard with any DVR including the ability to pause, rewind and fast forward through live tv and schedule tv programs to be recorded to it’s internal hard drive. But the ReplayTV 5000 and 5500 series models go well beyond the basics. Some of the features that set the ReplayTV apart from the competition are:

  • Built in Ethernet Adapter: The ReplayTV can be connected to your home network and the Internet for program guide updates and sharing recorded programs with other ReplayTV units and even your computer.
  • Show|Nav: The ability to quickly jump to preset points within a tv program - for example, if you’ve already seen the beginning of a show, you can quickly jump past the first segment (and commercials!) with the push of a button.
  • Quick Skip: Fast forward 30 seconds instantly with the quick skip button - makes fast work of commercials.
  • Unlimited Pause Buffer: Unlike other DVR’s, the amount of pause time is only limited by the available recording space on the hard drive - if you’ve got 30 hours of recording space available, you can pause live TV for 30 hours (not sure why you’d want to, though).
  • 480P Progressive Scan Output: If you have a High Definition TV, the ReplayTV will scale standard definition TV to 480P progressive scan output for the best possible picture.

While all of these features are available on both 5000 and 5500 series ReplayTV units, two of the most popular features are only available on the ReplayTV 5000 Series models:

  • Commercial Advance: The ReplayTV can automatically detect commercials (most of the time) and instantly skip past them without even having to press a button!
  • Internet Video Sharing: If you forget to record a show, anyone with a ReplayTV connected to the Internet can send it to you from their ReplayTV.

These two features are what really set the ReplayTV apart from the competition, but unfortunately the television industry sued the previous ReplayTV owners (SonicBlue) and forced them to remove these features from future models (5500 series). There are ways to retrofit these features to the 5500 series ReplayTV (see the ReplayTV forum at AVS Forum for more info) but for the average user, this is not an option.

Performance - How Well does it Work?

In a word, perfectly. The ReplayTV 5040 has met or surpassed every expectation I have had of it. Being an owner - make that renter - of a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR from Comcast has really helped me to appreciate the ReplayTV. While all of the basic features of a DVR such as scheduled recordings and pausing and fast forwarding live TV worked fine on both units, the ReplayTV stands head and shoulders above the rest for three reasons:

  1. Maturity and Dependability: The ReplayTV was one of the first DVRs on the market, and all this extra development time is apparent in the stability and ease of use of this DVR. When I schedule something to record on the ReplayTV, I know it will record. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve scheduled the Comcast / Scientific Atlantic DVR to record a program, only to find that it didn’t record. Sometimes the program time changed and it wasn’t updated, sometimes it’s marked incorrectly as a repeat, and now it has even begun to just not record programs — I have no idea why! The ReplayTV never does this — I now even schedule programs to record on both the ReplayTV and the Scientific Atlanta DVR just in cast the SA DVR screws up — again!
  2. Show|Nav, Quick Skip, and Commercial Advance: Until you’ve watched TV with a ReplayTV and been able to instantly skip commercials and other parts of shows you don’t want to watch, you don’t know what you’re missing. I now HATE watching recorded shows on the Scientific Atlanta DVR because I don’t have these features. Being able to skip past commercials is one of my favorite features of a DVR — there’s nothing like watching a 30 minute show in only 20 minutes!
  3. Internet Video Sharing: Inevitably, I forget to schedule the ReplayTV to record a show I want to see — Or, I find out about the show after it’s been on so I didn’t have an opportunity to record it. With Internet Video Sharing and a show sharing database service called Poopli, I can request that someone send the show to my ReplayTV. With other DVR’s, if you miss recording a program, you’re out of luck — and that stinks.

Final Conclusion

The ReplayTV’s not perfect. It can only record one program at a time, and it can’t record HDTV. But with all the unique features it has, for the videophile who wants the best video and audio quality available from a DVR, they ReplayTV is your best choice.

Buy a ReplayTV from Amazon.com

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